2011 Camaro. Grinds when shifting from 1st to 2nd under hard acceleration

I have read the very long thread on grinding on the 2010 models, and on the v6 cars, but I didn't see anything about the 2011 models having this issue.
I have a 2011 6-speed camaro and when I shift from 1st to 2nd under high acceleration, It grinds. Is there anything I can do about this?
Are there any TSBs specific to THIS problem? I read some other tsb's, but they wern't exaclty about this issue. Can anyone shed some light on this for me?
Mine is a 2011 2ss V-8 6 Speed. It started doing it when it was brand new(around 150 miles I tried it), and now it has 1100 miles and it grinds every time when shifting quickly from 1st to 2nd under high RPMs.

2010victoryred

11-15-2010 08:50 AM

i been feeling the same thing im also having other tranny problems and tired of goin back and forth with the dealer just gonna wait till it breaks hopefully im not too far from home lol :facepalm:

black11

11-15-2010 10:41 AM

I have the exact same problem. Seems to be much better when the tranny is warmed up. I've learned how to not shift it "too" fast and still make pretty quick shifts. it seems like it will grind when its forced a little too hard.

I'm waiting to see if GM ever releases any TSB for this before i get too worried about it. Tons of people have the same problem.

unix748

11-15-2010 10:59 AM

The 2011's aren't the only ones having problems although the dealerships aren't recognizing the problem.

I had the same issue on my 2010 v6 M6 I brought it to the dealer had the service manager take a ride with me duplicated the sound, they took it in ordered new 1st and 2nd syncronizers and now it doesnt do it at all. Plus after that issue I called customer service and complained asked them what they would do for me so they sent me a 60,000 mile 4 year warranty on top of my original warranty.

denster

11-15-2010 12:18 PM

I just called GM and discussed this problem. They took notes and gave me a case number. I asked her to search her database and see if she has any additional information about this situation. She searched and said there are no reported issues for this problem. I then had her call a dealership and speak to their service center. While she was on the phone, I explained this to the Service Center Manager at the dealership. He said he has never heard of this before. He said i'm welcome to bring it in if I want. As a side note, this is not the dealership where I bought it. That place has never heard of this problem either. The dealership that we called while the GM rep was on the phone was a larger chevy dealership. That's why we called them because the place where I bought mine was a smaller one. We thought we would have a better chance with a larger dealership.
GM also said there are no TSBs for this specific issue. She said there are others related to transmission issues of course, but nothing about the grinding from 1st to 2nd under heavy acceleration or high RPMs.
Now what? All I could recommend for everyone is to make sure you take your car to the dealership so at least there is a record of it. That way if something happens later down the road, you have proof that you had it there early on.

denster

11-15-2010 12:33 PM

I set my pic to show my ride. ....still looks cool. You just can't shift fast or you'll grind.

v6sonoma

11-15-2010 12:35 PM

At what rpm range does the problem occur? I've taken mine up to red and haven't had any issues so far. I have heard that changing to a synthetic like Royal Purple can help a lot with shifting.

denster

11-15-2010 12:44 PM

You have to shift pretty quickly to notice it, but it does it at high RPMs from 1st to 2nd every time. Somewhere around 5k or higher. I haven't ran mine up to red line, but I have been driving a stick all my life, so I can shift pretty quickly. If yours isn't doing it, then throw a party and celebrate, because from what i've heard, most people have this problem.

denster

11-15-2010 01:11 PM

I have an idea.... Since a lot of us are facing a similiar problem with GM telling us they never heard of this problem, and also when we take it to the dealer, they say they never heard of this problem.
How about we start posting the Contact Name and Contact information for the dealer and the service manager of the dealerships that have found AND DONE SOMETHING about this problem. then we can give it to our dealers when they get all stupid and say they have no idea what to do about this.

summitss/rsls3

11-15-2010 09:19 PM

nothing new here. i have a 2010 ss six speed car and i've had nothing but bad luck with the transmission(s) in it. First off the trans lost a bearing at 400 miles and had to have a new trans put in. after that the car would always grind on the 1 to 2 shift so after talking to the service manager a bunch they decided to take the trans apart and see what was wrong. They replaced the syncros and second gear and it still does the same thing. I have just learned to not shift as fast as i would like to, but every once and a while it will still do it if i dont remember to pause for a split second. Hopefully someday they will figure out why these cars do this and come up with a cure. I have had 2 different cobras before this camaro and i shifted them way faster and never had grinding so its gotta be a design flaw that GM hasnt mastered yet.

denster

11-16-2010 07:20 AM

I had a PM from someone and they said they had 1st and 2nd gear synchros replaced by their dealer and it fixed the problem perfectly.

mad@gm

11-16-2010 09:02 AM

For as long as the manual trans has been around for this is really sad that we can't have a better product by now, I would think that after gm almost disappeared from going bankrupt they would have built something better, my 2010 2SS/RS is a complete turd! Loaded with defects and missing options, trans problem included, and to make it all the better I can't get anything fixed, the most famous line I get is its operating as designed, well if thats the case then the design sucks!

afireinside

11-16-2010 06:43 PM

Man sorry guys.... my 2010 shifts fine though I am doing the first trans and diff change soon with amsoil. I do however hate the 1st to 4th at low RPM that locks me out of second lol

denster

11-17-2010 07:19 AM

The 1st to 4th thing is because of the skip shift. Usually, that's the first thing people eliminate. Just get a skip shift eliminator and that will correct that. You can get them as cheap as $12 on ebay(brand new), or up to $30 at slp; same exact one.

cab2g

11-18-2010 09:48 AM

It seems to be much worse for me when the car is cold. I notice it mostly on 2nd to 3rd. Dealer said the transmission was working as designed and that it would grind more and be harder to shift when the transmission was cold.

adc174

11-19-2010 02:31 PM

my 10 ssrs has been in the dealer for 4 weeks now for grinding 1st to 2nd, they insist that its the shifter and they will not cover any of the time to look in to it, had the stock set up and it grinded a bit, installed the hurst and it was grinding more.... pulled it and installedthe mgw which i love but for 500 miles it was ok (slight grinding) and now i cant get it into 2nd at all.......the dealer is jerkin me, ive been back and forth with the gm rep for 2 weeks now and they keep fowarding the case to new reps..ohhhhh the car has 3900 miles

jomo45

11-19-2010 02:59 PM

Most likely not the shifter, mine did it with the stock shifter, installed MGW hoping it would help, awesome shifter, but didn't help or hurt the grinding. More here

:facepalm::mad0259:my 2011 SSRS is grindin' 3600 miles. IT's done it before at lower RPM but i thought it was just me, just frustrated :(

PFCMAC

11-21-2010 08:57 PM

the grinding could be a messed up clutch disc which is usually a grindin sound in most cases and those that cant get into another gear is prob a synchronizer

autobotaz

11-24-2010 08:56 AM

Mine started doing this between around 4500 miles. I also noticed some noise when when pushing the clutch in especially at low speed, like the clutch wasn't fully disengaging. I took a look at my clutch fluid and it was black. I suctioned the black stuff out and replaced with GM Super DOT4 fluid and I have not had any problems since and the noise when pushing in the clutch is gone.

my2cents

11-24-2010 03:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by denster
(Post 2553982)

The 1st to 4th thing is because of the skip shift. Usually, that's the first thing people eliminate. Just get a skip shift eliminator and that will correct that. You can get them as cheap as $12 on ebay(brand new), or up to $30 at slp; same exact one.

My 2011 SS grinds from 1st to 2nd under hard acceleration it has 400 miles on it and was wondering if it has anything to do with the skipshift...if I unhook it does it make the grinding go away, I had a 95 camaro with it unhooked and it never had a problem with grinding. any help out there?:iono::mad0259:

Viper595

11-24-2010 04:06 PM

clutch THEN shift. that'll fix the grinding.

=) good luck with the fix man, hopefully the dealer will be able to find it, and help you out!

xxlbeerz

11-24-2010 05:06 PM

Okay, well if changing fluids and a short shifter doesn't work... has anyone tried a clutch/FW/tob swap? Did it improve?

denster

12-01-2010 12:15 PM

I have an update.... first off, i noticed that mine will do the grinding going from 1st to 2nd, using about 1/2 gas pedal and shifting at 3500 rpm. if you shift quickly, it will grind every time.